Music licensing in India
Streaming music in your business isn't the same as listening to music at home. When you play music for an audience with a business and commercial purpose, you need different licenses.
Play it right
Soundtrack is built to bring you music that’s legal for your business. In India, almost everything you need is included in your Soundtrack plan except for a public performance license.
Recording rights
Allows you to stream a specific sound recording of a song
Publishing rights
Allows you to stream the original composition
Public performance rights
Allows you to stream the song in a public environment
Change the way you play
Soundtrack offers an excellent selection of music because of our direct relationships with publishers, performing rights organizations and record labels. These include Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and more. Our technology accurately tracks your song plays, which ensures that music creators get the right payments from us. Soundtrack Unlimited makes royalty payments about 5 times higher than streaming services for private use.
Music for business
Avoid legal concerns when playing music in your business. Use a suitable music provider (like Soundtrack) and check that you have the correct licenses in place.
Personal music services including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal and Deezer, are not approved for use in business environments.
Spotify
You can’t broadcast or play Spotify publicly from a business, such as bars, restaurants, schools, stores, salons, dance studios, radio stations, etc. To play in a commercial environment, check out our friends at Soundtrack.
Spotify for public or commercial useYouTube
You may access and use the Service as made available to you, as long as you comply with this Agreement and the law. You may view or listen to Content for your personal, non-commercial use.
YouTube Terms of ServiceDeezer
The use of the Site and Application is only authorized for a personal and private use, therefore any other use, particularly in public premises and for businesses, is strictly forbidden.
Deezer Terms and Conditions of UseApple
You may use the Services and Content only for personal, noncommercial purposes (except as set forth in the App Store Content section below or as otherwise specified by Apple).
Apple Media Services Terms and ConditionsAmazon Music
You may use the Services only for your personal, non-commercial purposes.
Amazon Music Terms of UseGet licensed
Get your correct business licenses
If you don't have public performance licenses from IPRS, PPL India, ISAMRA and Novex Communications, please visit their websites.
Start your free Soundtrack trial
Start your 14 day free trial to use our properly licensed business music service immediately. No payment or commitment required.
Music licensing in India
Music licensing in India covers more ground than most territories. Businesses may need to deal with several rights organizations, depending on what they play, because the songs, the recordings and the performances on them are all licensed separately.
IPRS (The Indian Performing Right Society) administers performing rights in the songs themselves, on behalf of composers, lyricists and publishers. Its reciprocal agreements with sister societies abroad mean its repertoire extends well beyond Indian music.
The recordings are a separate right, held by the labels. PPL India (Phonographic Performance Limited) and Novex Communications are the main licensors here, each covering different labels and catalogues, so which applies depends on the music you play.
ISAMRA (Indian Singers' and Musicians' Rights Association) represents the performers rather than the labels or songwriters. It started out in 2013 as ISRA, founded by singers including Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Sonu Nigam, and was the first copyright society registered after India's 2012 copyright amendment. It expanded to cover musicians as well as singers and took its current name in 2023. Where the recordings you play feature ISAMRA members, you'll need a Collection Clearance Certificate from ISAMRA alongside your other licenses.
Performers are also paid through the wider system: under a 2023 agreement with the Indian Music Industry, which represents more than 200 labels, ISAMRA receives up to 25% of the public performance revenue PPL India collects, for distribution to performers.
These rights are independent of each other, so a license covering one leaves the others uncovered. Because the repertoire each organization controls changes, it's worth confirming directly what your venue needs.
Contact info
IPRS
ISAMRA
Novex Communications
PPL India